Flax Crackers

flax seed crackers, yum :)

My first attempt at flax crackers...
HHI recipe given as follows:
5 red peppers
1/2 red onion
3 cloves garlic
3 Tablespoons chili powder
2 1/2 cup flax seed
1 cup ground flax seed
3 oz. fresh lemon juice
3 stalks celery
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pinch cayenne powder
5 1/2 cups water



1. Soak flax seed in water for at least 3 hours and set aside.
2. Blend remaining ingredients and add to soaked flax seds.
3. Mix in ground flax seed.
4. Spread out on a paraflex sheet.
5. Score to desired size of crackers.
6. Dehydrate overnight then peel off the paraflex sheet.
7. Dehydrate again until the crackers are crispy.

My dehydrator was already planned to be fairly full with trays of different nuts I had soaked for 24 hours so I used a smaller recipe than the above, with two additions, as follows:

flax seed ingredients

~ one cup of chopped red peppers
~ one cup of chopped carrot
~ one cup of chopped celery
~ 1/3 cup of chopped parsley
~ one Tablespoon chopped sweet onion
1 clove of garlic
~ one ounce of fresh lemon juice
1 cup flax seed (pre soak)
~1/3 cup coarsely ground flax seed (no soaking)
1 Tablespoon chili powder
no garlic powder (didn't have any)
1 small dash cayenne pepper
1 cup water

I'm positive I ended up soaking the flax seeds for more than three hours...  When I returned for a beautiful bike ride in the Florida sunny weather, I went to rinse the soaked flax seeds and found a gelatinous goop (see photo above).  Not sure if this is normal result of soaking flax seeds...?

gelatinous soaked flax seeds

soaked flax seeds

I then made the mistake of putting the gelatinous goopy flax seeds into a strainer with holes larger than the seeds!  So, I lost some of the seeds before transferring the goop back into soaking jar.  I then proceeded to try and rinse the seeds using a small mesh stainless steel strainer.  The goopy slimy feeling on the seeds never did go away and I couldn't seem to get all the gelatinous fluids to leave so I think that may be why my flax concoction was a little runny...  Next time, if the seeds are that goopy, I'll use less water.


flax cracker mix pre-dehydration

After getting everything together, I spread the mixture out onto two Excaliber paraflex sheets.  About 3 cups of the mixture onto one sheet and about 2 cups onto the second sheet.  As I mentioned, my mixture came out a bit runny so it wasn't really possible to "score" to desired size crackers.  So, mine dried in one huge cracker! 
I pre-heated dehydrator at 120 degrees Fahrenheit just briefly before putting the flax mixture in.  I kept the dehydrator on 120 inadvertently for probably a hour or so...  Then, when I was walking by and remembered...  I turned down to 115 degrees Fahrenheit.  Time for a timer!
I dehydrated overnight, took out paraflex and flipped the large flax crackers and continued to dehydrate while I was away for the day.  Got home late afternoon and the crackers were pretty crispy.  Since they hadn't been scored, I simply broke them into pieces.  Next time less water so I can maybe make them a little thicker.  Either way, a delicious snack! :)  Good for movie theaters instead of salty high temp oil cooked popcorn!